Volunteer Portfolio of Committees

• Directory – Collect data and permission slips from families to put in a school directory. Help in preparing, printing, and distributing the directory. Assist in proof reading the rough draft of the document. This would be a one-time event from the beginning of school until October. Time commitment – 40+ hours.

• Newsletter – Edit and publish PTA and school activities in a bimonthly newsletter. Order in printing and arrange distribution of the newsletter into the office mailboxes and Monday folders. Time commitment – 8-12 hours per each of four, possibly five, issues (Sept/Oct; Nov/Dec; Jan/Feb; March/April; Wrap-up Thank You).

• Yearbook – One lead person to organize all pages (64), make deadlines, and work with yearbook company. A minimum of 6 grade level people to design class spreads digitally on their own computers. One person in charge of all class individual and class group photos. Find and manage as many photographers as possible! One per class if possible to take pictures of the various classroom activities throughout the year and people to photograph all Specials and Enrichment activities. It is highly recommended to have a Co-Lead position. Time commitment –4-6 hours a month, plus a more concentrated time commitment before the two deadlines in late January and early March. Final deadline is just before Spring Break.

• Website – Responsible for updating the CCE PTA website. HTML knowledge helpful, or web editing software (i.e. FrontPage). Time commitment – 5 hrs a month.

• Art-in-the-Classroom – This is a program designed to bring art history and art appreciation to the students. Volunteers present short, age-appropriate lessons to classes during their regular Art period. These presentations include information about a given artist, style, or period of art, followed by a hands-on activity related to the subject matter. Time commitment – 1 hour meeting to learning about the subject matter and how to present it. Volunteers then sign up to make one or more 30-minute presentation to the Art classes. Many volunteers sign up to present during their own child’s class. There will be presentations in the fall and spring semesters. No art background is necessary. Everybody is welcome to volunteer.

• Chess Club – Participating students will meet once a week after-school from Oct. - March; play chess game, and have fun. Volunteers are needed to chaperone and organize the club meetings. A working knowledge of Chess is preferred. Time commitment – 1 hour per week. You can help as many weeks as you want.

• Cultural Arts ­- The officeholder arranges local cultural arts performers for in-school performances of music, theatre, dance, etc., and typically one field trip to a Ballet Austin production. She schedules the shows with the performers and with the school secretary, coordinates payment with the PTA treasurer and sees to the performer’s needs on the day of the show.

• Destination Imagination – This is a creative problem-solving program, encouraging students to nurture and express their creativity and imagination. Each team produces a theatrical performance and an improvisational performance at a regional competition in March. Each team can have up to 7 students and must have two volunteer coaches. Volunteers are needed to coach the students in learning the rules, exploring their imagination, leading the discussion, organizing the schedule, etc. Time commitment - 1 hour per week from late October through February. Most volunteers are the parents of students who are interested in joining this program.

• Math Superstars – Volunteers are needed to help grade math sheets. The math sheets are distributed to each school grade in the Monday Folders. Volunteers would be assigned a certain age group to collect the papers, grade them, and return them to the students. The Volunteers would help track how many points or “stars” each student would collect. Time commitment – 2-3 hours a week for one semester. Graders must commit to one semester. Volunteers can sign up for as many weeks as they want during the semester. No math problem-solving skills needed, the answer sheets will be provided.

• Music-in-the-Classroom – This program is designed to bring music appreciation into the classroom. Volunteers are needed to help in researching the composer, preparing the presentation, and presenting the composer’s music or a style of music to the students for 20 minutes. Volunteers attend a 1-hour meeting to watch the display / design for various grade levels before the presentation. For presentation, volunteers can work in teams. Two composers are presented a year. Time commitment – 1-2 hours per composer. This program is lots fun. Definitely no musical background is needed.

• Reflections – This is a fine arts contest for all students in areas of visual art, music, photography and literature. This program provides an opportunity for students to use their creative talents and to express themselves through their own original work. There is a different theme each year. The contest is held in the fall. Volunteer are needed to help to publicize and encourage participation, organize the entries, locate judges, supervise judges, submit articles of winners, take pictures, prepare awards ceremony, etc. Time commitment – 2-month project. This is a great volunteering opportunity for those who have younger kids at home. You can help from home or during after-school hours.

• Robolab – Robolab is a program in which the students use Lego Mindstorm kits to build robots and laptop computers to program the robots. Volunteers are needed to instruct and assist the students during the lab hours. Time commitment – 1 hour training session plus as many lab as you want to attend. Many parents help out in their own children’s class. Each class goes to Robolab for 5 days and 1 hour per day. Only 3rd-5th graders are participating in this program.

• Science Day – The volunteer has the opportunity to direct students through a “hands-on” science experiment in their classroom. The experiments are simple and have been used successfully by parents in our classrooms for the past two years. Time commitment – one day of school, plus time needed to learn the experiment ahead of time and purchase materials (4 hours). Volunteers work in sets of two or three per experiment. They will either be the classroom leader or an assistant.

• Science Fair – Volunteers needed to assist in set-up, registration, and judging of the science projects. The Science Fair enables students to create scientific projects based on their own creative ideas. Specific guidelines provide students the opportunity to generate, design, test, and provide results of the experiment. Finalists represent Canyon Creek in the Austin Science Fest in mid-Spring. Time commitment – 3 to 4 hours / 1 night / year for the event.

• Fall Fundraiser – Volunteers needed to distribute and collect orders, consolidate all orders, and help distribute products to students for delivery. Time commitment – 2-month project.

• General Mills Box Tops – Help trim and count the Box Tops. Time commitment: 1-2 hours/month. During the month of September: Help gather, trim & count Box Tops for the contest and assist with winning classroom’s pizza party. Time commitment for September: 1-2 hours/week

• Silent Auction – This is a one-time event held in late winter to raise money for different events or needs at the school. Volunteers are needed to help obtain donations, plan and promote the auction, setup, work at the auction, and clean up. Time commitment – 5-month project (Oct thru Feb), 3-5hrs/week. This is in conjunction with the Family Fun Fest. The committees are separately run, as it is a rather large undertaking.

• Family Fun Fest – This is a one-time event held in late winter to raise money for different events or needs at the school. Volunteers are needed to help coordinate food booths, set up and clean up, volunteer to run booths, and sort prizes. Time commitment – 5-month project.

• Skate Night – Help chaperone the kids for the evening. There are five skate nights throughout the school year. Volunteer for any or all five nights. There are two shifts: 6:30-7:30 or 7:30-8:30. Volunteers can either work one or both shifts.

• T-Shirt Sales– This event is held at the beginning of the year. Help distribute T-shirts to classrooms. Time commitment 1 week

• Ink Cartridge Recycle Program - Create Interest, competition, awareness for program. Set up collection points. Pick up at collection points weekly. Box and mail in to host program. Align school needs with cash or award options at year-end. Time commitment - 1 hour per week. Can go further to get local businesses to recycle and send in on behalf of school.

• Butterfly Garden – The Green Team takes care of the “green” areas surrounding Canyon Creek. This includes the butterfly garden, the raised flowerbeds in front of the school, as well as maintaining and improving upon all of the natural surroundings. Volunteers are needed to help weed, trim, mulch, and garden maintenance once a month. Time commitment is flexible during school hours and on the weekend.

• Provide Baked Goods – Volunteers are needed throughout the year to provide food items for various functions at the school. Time commitment – 1 hour.

• Teacher Appreciation – Handle all events during teacher appreciation week, as determined by the committee. (i.e. help decorate, provide snack food for various functions, etc). This is a good way to meet all faculty and staff. Time – 5 hours in April.

• Newcomers – Update newcomer packets and organize coffee and Kleenex event. Time commitment – 2hrs a month

• Sunshine Representative – Handle purchase of flowers and send cards for special needs. Time commitment – 30min a month

• Staff Snacks – Coordinate snack offered to teachers during one Wednesday facility meeting a month. Time – 3hrs a month

• Out to Lunch – Coordinate with homeroom parents to allow teachers to attend two lunches out during the school year and order and deliver lunch to office staff. Time commitment – 5 hrs in November and May

• Friday Feast – Coordinate lunch/or brunch given to teachers the first Friday of each month. Time commitment – 6 hrs a month

• Science Fair Food – Make calls for food. Set up table and replenish items as needed for science fair judges. Time commitment – 10hrs in Feb

• Library Volunteer – Provide checkout coverage, shelve books and assist students. On the job training is provided. Time – 2 hrs every other wk.

• Book Fairs – Help in setup (unpacking, decorating and displaying), running a cash register for checkout, helping students and teachers with their wish lists, and clean up (packing the books to be returned). There are two book fairs – one in the fall (around November) and one in the spring (around April). Time commitment – 2-3 hour shift from 7:30am to 7:30pm.

Miscellaneous

• Food Service Help - Help the cafeteria serve lunch during the Thanksgiving Feast & Family Cook-out's . The Feast is usually the week before Thanksgiving Break and one cook-out is at the beginning of the year and the other is at the end of the year. Time commitment – 2 hours/ per event.

• Brown Santa – We provide a wrapped toy to less fortunate families with children for the Christmas holiday. Volunteers are needed to contact the Sheriffs Department for delivery and pick-up of the decorative collection barrels for the school. The volunteers will help solicit awareness in the school by means of publication and posters. Time commitment – two-week project in December.

• Clothes Closet – A district wide effort to provide donated clothes to families of school-aged children in RRISD who are in need of these items. Volunteers are needed to empty the school hamper and bring the donations to the Clothes Closet located at Voigt Elementary School Campus. The volunteers will help sort, tag and hang the donations on racks. Time commitment – 2 hours per month.

• Holiday Food Drive – Volunteers are needed to notify the Canyon Creek Community of the Hill Country Ministry food drive and where to make their donation. The volunteers will contact HCCM as to when to pick up the donations from our school. Time commitment – two-week project in November.

• Clothing Drive – This committee works with Clothes Closet. Volunteers are needed to help organize a collection of specific donated cloth items. Volunteers will notify the community of when the collections will take place. They will collect the items and deliver them to the Clothes Closet at Voigt Elementary. Time commitment – two-week project.

• Lunch Recess Volunteer Coordinator - This person will coordinate the recruitment of 2-3 parents a day from grades 3-5 to supervise the playground areas during lunch recess. The time commitment is 2-3 hours a month. We need three parents each day from 12:05 to 1:00

• Lunch Room Coordinator – This person will coordinate the volunteers who are needed during the lunch hour to monitor the cafeteria and help the kids. This also allows the older kids (3rd – 5th grades) to have a few minutes of recess time. The volunteers would help control the noise and assist kids that need help with their lunch. Time commitment – 11:00 – 1:00 every day. Volunteers can sign up for just two times during the whole school year or as many times as they want.

• School Supplies – Starts in previous school term to have returning students sign up for supplies, plus volunteer needs to be available around Kindergarten Round-up and the delivery of School Supplies just before the school year starts. Person must be extremely organized.

• Partner in Education Coordinator – The person will assist the CCE PIE Coordinator (Vice Principal) to maintain open communication with the business partners/volunteers and establish new partnerships based on CCE needs. Help create staff awareness of PIE programs and roles of partners and volunteers', maintain records of partner contributions, coordinate recognition and appreciation of partners and attend district meetings. Time commitment depends upon the CCE PIE coordinator and needs of the school each year. 2-4 hrs during the first weeks of school, 6 – 10 hrs after FFF to turn in donation forms and write thank you’s, and 6 hrs at the end of the year for appreciation week.

• Tally Volunteer Hours – Copy Volunteer Sign In sheets and add up the volunteer hours on a monthly basis. Time commitment – 1 hour per month.

• Serve Thanksgiving Feast – Help the cafeteria serve lunch during the Thanksgiving Feast. The Feast is usually the week before Thanksgiving Break. Time commitment – 2 hours.

• Career Awareness – Volunteers are needed to teach a lesson or read a story on a specific career topic. They would help to coordinate quest speakers for the classes. Two representatives for each grade level are needed. Time commitment – Ongoing throughout the school year. The activities would only be once or twice a month. There will also be a school wide Career Day.

• Parent Education – This committee would help determine topics that would be of interest to our community. Volunteers are needed to help canvass the parents for their input, plan and help to coordinate the activities. One volunteer per grade level is needed. Time commitment – a few meetings a year.

• Red Ribbon Week – Help prepare materials for the week of October 23-31. Volunteers will meet to develop ideas for activities relating to healthy lifestyles. They will plan the event, order materials, and coordinate the event with all the grade levels. Time commitment – 2 months.

• Character Education – This committee would meet once a month throughout the school year to plan and prepare materials for the character word of the month. Time commitment – 4 hours a month

• Make a Wish Foundation – Helps to organize trips, special wishes for terminal ill patients. The UT Coach Darrell Royal sponsored this event. Time commitment –

• Hearing/Vision Screening – The Hearing and Vision Screening process takes about a day and half to complete. The screening will most likely be in early fall. Assist in rotating the children from the classrooms to the screenings, help check height and weight measurements and help record information. Time commitment – 2-hour shift, one day.